“There is an urge for Pacific island countries to engage with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change or IPCC,” says academic, Dr Morgan Wairiu.
Dr Wairiu is acting director at the University of the South Pacific’s Pacific Centre for Environment and Sustainable Development (PaCE-SD) and lead author of the IPCC 1.5 degrees special report which was published in October 2018.
He is also the coordinating lead author for the Small Islands chapter of the IPCC working group 2 (AR6).
In his presentation at the two-day workshop and dialogue: Key Findings of the IPCC and Bridging the Science and Technology Divide in the Pacific Islands, Dr Wairiu said it is important for the Pacific region to engage more with the IPCC.
“There is a low participation in Pacific country’s participation in IPCC processes and we hope to engage our climate change postgraduate students at PaCE-SD to be involved in IPCC reporting. And for peer support and capacity training we have engaged partners from Australia and New Zealand and the region as well as IPCC experts to share experiences with our students.
“We are also encouraging our students to engage in scientific literature and publications and at the end of the sessions, there will be a writing workshop for peer reviewed literature which will be a good start for our young career researchers,” Dr Wairiu said,
USP is hosting a 2 day workshop and dialogue at the university’s Laucala campus in Suva. The dialogue was officially opened this morning (November 14) by the university’s Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research, Innovation and International), Professor Derrick Armstrong.
“The University of the South Pacific is proud at the involvement of academic staff and students that are involved in the IPCC report and processes. The contribution from USP’s leading scientists and students highlight the importance of the Pacific region’s contributions to climate change and bridging the sciences, technology and research,” Prof Armstrong said.
Prof Armstrong further encouraged the climate change students from the university’s Pacific Centre for Environment and Sustainable Development (PaCE-SD) to engage with the region’s experts in IPCC processes.
IPCC assessments provide a scientific basis for governments at all levels to develop climate-related policies, and they underlie negotiations at the United Nations Climate Conference – the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).
